Refrigerator-door seal



sept- 1924.

J. TWARDOWSKY REFRIGERATOR DOOR SEAL Filed May 31 Patented Sept. 9,1924.

UNITED STATES 1,507,636 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN TWARDOWSKY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,'10 UNIVERSE CORPORATION, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

REFRIGERATOR-DOOR SEAL.

Application filed May 31, 1923. Serial No. 642,514.

To. all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN TWARDOWSKY, a citizen of Russia, residing atChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in aRefrigerator-Door Seal; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to means for sealing doors so as to afiord asubstantially air tight closure. Generally speaking, it aims to providea simple and inexpensive arrangement for this purpose and one which canreadily be adjusted so as to provide the desired sealing effectregardless of variations in the exact size and interfitting of the doorwith the door frame. Moreover, it aims .to pro- I vide a seal of thisclass which can readily be adjusted from time to time if necessary, inwhich the "sealin portion can readily be replaced if desire and in whichthe seal is effective both as to air and as to moisture.

In using refri erators, it is well known that the require; amount ofcooling effect depends to a considerable extent on a tight closing ofthe refrigerating chamber with respect to the outer air so as to preventthe outer (and much warmer) air from entering this chamber. If thecooling is effected by means of a mechanical refrigerating system inwhich power is derived from an electric circuit, the cost of the currentmakes it. all the more important that the required cooling action bereduced to a minimum, hence it is particularly desirable that the doorsof mechanicallycooled refrigerators should be tightly sealed.Furthermore, since many kinds of fruits and vegetables, as well as otherfoods, are easily affected bythe pres once of moisture within therefrigerating chamber even if the latter is contlnuously kept at adesirably low temperature, it 1s likewise important that the door of therefri crating chamber should be kept tightly sea ed so long'as it isclosed, 7

However, the usual refrigerator door constructions do not readily lendthemselves to such a tight sealing, this being partly due to initialdepartures from an exact interfitting of the door with the frame andalso because these parts 'may gradually change somewhat in their exactsize and shape.

as to its position whenever this may seem desirable. Still furtherandalso more detailed objects will appear from the fo1lowing specificationand from the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an elevation ofa refrigerator door equipped with the sealing arrangement embodying myinvention, taken from the inner side of the door.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view of a corner portion of the same.

Fig. 3 is a correspondingly enlarged horizontal section throughan edge.of the door and through the adjacent portion of the easing of therefrigerator, taken with the door in its closed position.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged portion of Fig. 3, showing the sealing strip asitappears when the door is still more tightly pressed shut.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section similar to a portion of. Fig. 4 showingthe sealing member in two positions of adjustment.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the sealing strip.

In accomplishing the purposes of my inventionafter the manner of theaccompanying drawings, I, construct the door of the re frigerator with awooden rim 1 of such a size as to loosely enter within the inner frameportion 2 of the front of the refrigerator, this frame portion beinghere shown as-screwed to a corner post 3; The

corner post itself is shown as partly surrounded by the outer metal sidepiece 40f the refrigerator, while the frame portion 2- has screwed to itthe inner metal shell portion- 5 which forms part of the interior of therefrigerating chamber. The space between I the inner and outer metalsides 4; and 5 is filled with an insulating packing 6 of cork board orthe like, and a similar heat-insuloo Cal

lating packing is interposed between the outer meta]. face 7 of the doorand the inner metal face 8 of the door.

of the door and which, is screwed-to the frame member 2. The lining 5and frann member 2 conjointly form an angular seal. 11 with which theweb 10 engages. Thus arranged, the said portion 11 of the inner lining 5also constitutes a forwardly facing ledge on the frame of the'door, andby spacing this ledge from the inner face of the door by a distance lessthan the width of the web 10 of the sealing member, I cause thiswebto becompressed when the door is closed. To permit such a compressing actionto flex the sealing member to an extent which will automaticallycompensate for. the differences in distance between the parts in casethe inner face of the door is not exactlyparallel at all points with theforward-face of the said ledge 11, I provide the rim or peripheral edgeportion 1' of the door with a recess 12 ,which is overhung by the backof the web 10 of the sealing member, so that this back can be flexedinto the said recess after the manner shown in Fig. 4.

-To hold the sealing-member'properly in position, I provide a series ofmetal clamping strips 13 fastened to the door strips 1 by screws 14.These strips, which desirably are of a socalled half-oval cross-section,lap over the inner face of the web 9 of the sealing strip and clamp thisweb tightly against With the parts properly proportioned, and with theweb 10 of such a Width that' it will engage the said ledgell before theoverhanging portion 116 of the metal door front engages the metal frontlining 4 of the door frame; I can readily 'cause the sealing strip toengage the ledge 11 as shown in Fig. 3 even when the door is onlylightly pressed shut. Then if the pressure is greater at any point alongthe sealing strip, the sealing strip may be expanded in thickness memesand also forced back into therecess 12 as 4 shown in Fig. 4. Inpractice,the extent of this compression and distorting of the sealing member mayvary considerably at difierent points of that member, therebycompensating for irregularities in the shape and spacing of the door anddoor'frame.

If the sealing member thus employed were permanently clamped inposition, I might encounter the same objection which has been met withfiat sealing strips heretofore tried for a similar purpose, namely, thatthe strip will wrin le and hence will not afford the desired tlghtclosure. To avoid this, I do not fasten the sealing strip-by nails orscrews extending through it, but merely clamp it under a portion of theclamping strips 13 which in turn are secured in place by screws 1% thatdo not extend through the rubber sealing strip. In'alfixing the sealingstrip, I can initially tension this somewhat so as to stretch it aroundthe outer edge of the clamping strips 13, whereupon the tensioned rubberstrip will avoid any initial tendenci towards wrinkling. Furthermore, ifgra ual changes in the relative disposition of the door with respect tothe door frame or any gradual change in the shape of the sealing stripreduce the initial sealing effect, I can readily readjust the sealingmember. by merely loosening the screws 14- and sliding the web 9 of thesealing strip laterally after the manner shown in Fig. 5. That is to'say, I can readily increase or decrease the entire arrangement isexceedingly simple,

that .the sealing means employed will readily adjust themselves to suchvariations as ordinarily might occur at various portions of the door,and that a further general adjustment also can readily be made ifdesired. Incidentally, my sealing strip through its cushioning actionalso avoids any slamming noise when the door is closed, therebyaccomplishing a further and highly desirable effect. 7

However, while- I have illustrated and described my invention as appliedto a refrigerator door and body of a struction, namely one' having innerand outer metal linings, I do not wish to be limitedto the use of myinvention in connection with any particular type. of refrigerator door.Nor do I wish to be limited to its use in connection with refri erators,as it. obviousl might be employef also incomiection wit other doors-whena sealing of the same is desired. Neither do I wish tobe limited to thedetails of the construction and arrange'ment herewith disclosed, as manyarticular conmodifications might obviously be made without departingeither from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims, andparticularly so since I have exaggerated the spacing of some of theparts in the drawings so as to make these show the underlying principlesmore clearly,

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a door frame, and a door having a continuousrecess adjacent to the inner edges thereof, a compressible sealingmember of substantially L-shape cross-section having one web thereofsecured to the inner face of the door so as to cause the other web tolie in alinement with the recess and to have edgewise engagement withthe door frame, whereby upon such engagement the apex portions of themember may move into the recess.

2. In combination with a door frame,- and a door having a continuousrecess adjacent to the inner edges thereof, a compressible sealingmember of substantially L-shape cross-section having one web thereofsecured to the inner face of the-door so as to cause the other web tolie in alinement with the recess and to have edgewise engagement withthe door frame, whereby upon such engagement the apex portions of themember may move into the recess, and clamping means for the first namedweb formed to permit the latter to be adjusted inwardly and outwardlyrelative to the inner edges of the door.

3. In combination with a door frame, and a door having a continuousrecess adjacent to the inner edges thereof, com ressible sealing meanshavln a part thereo secured to the inner face 0 the door and having asecond part at an angle to the first named part and in register with therecess and havmg a free edge adapted for edgewise engagement with thedoor frame, whereby upon such engagement the second part may move intothe recess in a plane at substan-' tially right angles to the plane ofthe first.

named part. a

4. In combination with a door frame having an angular seat at its inneredge, and

a door having a recess in alinement with the seat, compressible sealingmeans secured to the door and having a art engaged in the angular seatand mova le into the recess upon closing of the door, and means forsecuring the sealingmeans to the door the apex portion of the sealingmeans may move into the recess, and means for securing the sealing meansto the door so as to en.- able the sealing. means to be moved inwardlyor outwardly thereby to regulate the degree of engagement of'the secondweb with the angular seat.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, May 25th, 1923.

JOHN TWARDOWSKY.

